


Cliffs

by liberallesbian37



Series: Project Team Beta's 2013 Writing Challenge [1]
Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-22
Updated: 2013-01-22
Packaged: 2017-12-05 00:17:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/716700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liberallesbian37/pseuds/liberallesbian37
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leah is sitting on the edge of a cliff when she is interrupted by Esme.</p><p>Challenge 1/Rocky Horizons<br/>Date Posted: 1/22/13<br/>Fandom: Twilight<br/>Rating: T<br/>Genre: AU<br/>Content Descriptors: Friendship<br/>Character Pairing: Esme/Leah friendship</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cliffs

            I smell her before I see her. She doesn’t say anything, only sits next to me on the jagged cliff. The rocks dig painfully into my ass, but I don’t care. I’m beyond caring. I suppose she doesn’t even feel the rocks. I wonder what her plan is, or if she even has one. It seems like she must have followed my scent. I’m hundreds of miles away from home; I doubt this is where she goes to think. Eventually, the silence gets to me.

 

                “All right, I’ll bite. What are you doing here?” I ask, torn between being annoyed at her presence and being comforted by it. She shrugs.

 

                “I like the ocean. It’s so beautiful out here. I could sit here all day and never get tired of watching the waves.” She sighs contentedly and stretches out.

 

                “There’s plenty of ocean at other places. What are you doing  _here_?” I’m being bitchy, but I don’t care. I don’t care about much at this point. She looks over at me.

 

                “Would you like to hear about how I became a vampire?” she asks. I scoff.

 

                “Why would I want to hear about how you became a leech?”

 

                She ignores me.

 

                “It was 1921, and I was twenty-six years old. I had married an abusive husband, and I had nowhere to go. Things were different then. Divorce wasn’t something respectable women did. He was gone for a while, drafted for World War I.” She bites her lip unconsciously before continuing.

 

                “Eventually, he came back. After a few months, I learned I was pregnant. I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t let my precious baby grow up in this environment. So I ran. I ran, and I ran, and I ran. I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. He was perfect. One day, I was holding him my arms, and the next day I wasn’t. It happened so suddenly. He was only two days old when he died. Lung fever.”

 

                I shiver.

 

                “I had nothing left to live for. I couldn’t go back to my husband. My family would be furious at me for running away. I didn’t know what to do, and I was out of options.” She pauses for a second.

 

                “So I went to a cliff, not unlike this one, although there was no ocean. And I jumped. Carlisle saw me as I was being taken to the morgue. He recognized me from treating a twisted ankle years ago. He detected a heartbeat, took me home, and bit me. And here I am now.”

 

                We sit in silence for several minutes.

 

                “What do you want me to say? I’m sorry your life sucked? I’m sorry you tried to get away from everything, only to be stuck here for all eternity? What do you want me to say?” I shake and tears fall down my cheeks. Cautiously, she reaches out and touches my arm. I flinch away.

 

                “No. I don’t want you to say any of that. My life didn’t suck. I had a few bad years, but I had a good life. And I wouldn’t change one thing. I don’t see this as being ‘stuck’ for all eternity. I see it as an opportunity to make a difference. I love my husband, and I love my children. Even if some of them are physically only a few years younger than me, I view them all as my children.” Again, she reaches out to me, and this time, I don’t flinch.

 

                “Leah, I’m sorry that you feel like your life is ruined, and I’m sorry that we’re the reason you’re living the life you’re living. But it’s going to change. Someday, you’re going to get away from all of this. You’ll stop phasing. You’ll fall in love. This isn’t the end. At least, it doesn’t have to be.”

 

                I look at her; really look at her, for the first time. Her caramel hair is hanging loosely around her shoulders. She’s wearing black pants with a loose purple sweater. And she’s glowing. I’d never actually seen a vampire in the sun before. I’d heard stories but never seen it. In that moment, I saw why everyone fell in love with them. They were my natural enemies, but here, looking at her, I saw their beauty. She was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen.

 

                “How am I supposed to go back?” I ask, my voice cracking. She tilts her head, silently beckoning me to elaborate.

 

                “How do I go back to my pack and spend every day going through the exact same routine? How do I sit around and watch while my cousin, my best friend, marries the man I love all because some bitch named Fate decided I wasn’t the right one? I see the looks everyone gives me. I hear what they say behind my back. ‘Leah’s a total bitch.’ ‘She gave her dad a heart attack.’ ‘She hates everyone.’ ‘Unnatural.’ ‘Not normal.’ ‘Something wrong.’ What am I supposed to do?” I cry.

 

                She is silent. The only sounds are my sobs and the waves crashing against the cliff. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a thick envelope.

 

                “Leah, I don’t believe this is the end for you. There is not a single part of me that thinks you are done with the world. But I can’t make that decision for you. Sure, I could drag you home. I’m probably stronger than you. I could take you home and have Carlisle put you on suicide watch and put your pack through the trauma of watching your every movement. But I don’t want to. Nor do I think I should. That wouldn’t be living. I’m not forcing you to do anything you don’t want to do.” She hands me the envelope.

 

                “I’m going to walk away. I promise I won’t try to influence you anymore. I’m going to turn around, and I’m going to go home, and I will never tell anyone about this. But, if you ever need anything, anything at all, you know where to find me.”

 

                She kisses the top of me head, and in an instant, she is gone.

 

                I carefully open the envelope and gasp. Inside is a bundle of cash, a slip of paper with a phone number, and a letter. With shaky hands, I unfold the letter.

 

_Dear Leah,_

 

_I hope that if you’re reading this it means you decided not to jump. It’s not your time. I understand the need to run as much as I understand the desire to jump. I hope you’ll decide to do the former. Here’s $50,000. Don’t worry, no one will even notice it’s missing. Sometimes you have to choose your own fate. If you ever, ever need anything feel free to call, or write, or visit._

 

_Good luck, Leah._

 

_Esme_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my betas, itsange and Gigi Scott.


End file.
